Ultimatum !!! Help with tank !

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
skjl47 said:
Hello; I added this link a while back and will add it again.

http://www.americanaquariumproducts.com/nitrogen_cycle.html

I use it as a reference from time to time. I wish to direct your attention to two sections of the article in particular. The first is titled; Cycling Summary. The first sentence states that..." water changes are helpful during cycling". The author goes on to give fairly detailed explaination throughout the article.

The next portion I will suggest to read is titled; "WHAT TO DO FOR HIGH AMMONIA OR NITRITES (when fish are already present):" More specifically down a few paragraphs to the "Be aware" paragraph just after Aquarium Cleaning; methods (bowls). I am not confident this is what happened to your big tank, but it fits some of the data you have posted. You mention a few times that things went bad after a large water change. You also mention that you feed heavy which likely also meant there was considerable organic matter undergoing decay. Your tanks had a heavy stocking. You added two fairly large fish shortly before the large water change, for which the bb population was not likely to have had time to increase sufficently to take up the extra ammonia. Again I do not know if this is the problem. It may well be that you had a cascade of issues.

In the end, as least so far, we each get to run our tanks any way we want. Correct me if I am mistaken, but it seems that you want to have large fish and that you feed heavy so to have them grow big quickly. You also tend to stock heavy. To me this leads to what I call a "tightrope tank". In the first decades of my fish keeping I ran a few such tanks. Lots of issues and always just a power outage or some other minor thing away from serious problems.

Again good luck
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I'll go by the readings of the Seachem ammonia alert , one thing I can't understand is if the rank is cycling and there is no ammonia present then why when I dropped a few rosy reds in a breeding net for 20 min, immidietly their eyes turned white , and fins started to rip and turn red, resulting in their death . I'll continue to do daily 10-15% water changes for the week, until my second dose if Safestart arrives. Thank you for the support
 
RD. said:
The OP just stated that his pH is 7.0

Honestly this thread is becoming too painful to read for me. Info from the OP is scattered at best, and he seems like his own worst enemy. Instead of staying on course he's feeding his fish and planning on which new filters he's going to buy. Constant fiddling with this system is what f'd it up the first time, and I suspect that it's heading that way again. I'm out.

Good luck!
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Well , I appreciate all the help you have provided . my thought might seem scattered due to 20+ users giving their inputs and me trying to understand and apply every input from each one of you , am more confused that you are. Yet still trying to get things right . I'm not fiddleing with he system , just trying my best to understand all of you and apply the best answers to fix the issue, the purchases of additional filtration has nothing to do with the issue am currently having , I was just stating future ways so it makes my maintance and way to detect issues easier , due to me having 3 canisters , want just one. With the use of 3 x ac110 would make things easier. Was just stating an idea . Sorry if you felt you have been wasting your time , thanks for all the help
 
The advice given to you by the majority of posters in this discussion has been constant. You choose whether to take that advice, and follow the directions, or not. The directions thus far have been pretty straightforward - such as for the time being not doing large water changes, and not feeding your fish and yet you choose to do otherwise. I have no problem with that - your fish, your tank but then why ask for advice? At this point I'm afraid to even think where those rosy reds came from, but I'm guessing that you don't raise them & breed them yourself. Or is that another small detail that you have left out of the equation, like the addition of 36" of mono bass that wasn't mentioned until 146 posts in. Like I said, good luck, you're going to need it.
 
RD. said:
The OP just stated that his pH is 7.0

Honestly this thread is becoming too painful to read for me. Info from the OP is scattered at best, and he seems like his own worst enemy. Instead of staying on course he's feeding his fish and planning on which new filters he's going to buy. Constant fiddling with this system is what f'd it up the first time, and I suspect that it's heading that way again. I'm out.

Good luck!
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Hello; Yes, I missed it. I was concentrating on the ammonia and overlooked the pH.
 
Man haven't commented so long but it hurts reading this post. My thing, I swear by plants. Get a bunch of water sprites, water lettuce and pothos to soak up all that excess ammonia. Plant roots slso is s good place for BB. Even straight up algae would help. Do you use any type of cleaners on your tank? That's what caused by major die off. Used windex on the glass.

Good luck
 
Well I wanted to do one last update on how everything went. I must say, a lot of you guys input was put into very good use, and frankly it would of been a bigger disaster if you guys didn't lend me a hand on this matter. The tank is stable now, it's cycled. I wouldn't say it's matured , that has quite some time to go, so am playing it safe for the next few months. But the good news is that its cycled and remaining fish are doing well. My tank readings are 0 ammonia .5 nitrate 0 Nitrite 6.8 PH. Fish are back to eating after not wanting to eat for almost 2 weeks, Endli is chumming down big fat earth worms that I breed outside, his appetite is great after tank settled. I started doing water changes a new way, I bought 2 x 55 Gallon Brute cans , drilled and placed bulk heads on the bottom of each can, I bought an external pump off a friend for $ 20, so now when I want to do water changes, I fill both of them up, treat them then I wait 30 minutes before I pump the water into the tank. So far, fish don't seem to be bother by this new way of me doing this. Seems like theyre more relaxed and ammonia/chloramines coming out straight from tap water is no longer an issue this way.

Just wanted to say something extra for those this method of doing water changes, hooking up a hose from tap and refilling tank straight from tap. Even if you treat the tank before water rushes in. that does not mean fish are not getting hit by waves of untreated water from tap. Specially when they're swimming around and water is just pouring in from tap water, filled with ammonia/chloramines. I know you treated tank before u added the water, but there will be some water that will touch your fish before is treated. If it works for you, go ahead and continue, personally . I will never do it that way again, I learned the hard way. Remember that fish don't have a fancy digestive system like we do, the water with ammonia/chloramine cannot be processed by them, it goes straight into their gills / bloodstream. Causing more and more damage over time.


Anyways, Thank you all for the help, ill post some pics of the tank later on, water quality its literally surreal , insane crystal clear . It's a mirror. Also, Tetra Safe Start is miracle worker by the second dose, my ammonia dropped 5 ppm over night and fish were already showing signs of enjoyment of being in the tank rather annoyed and edgy .
 
Glad to read that things are now starting to work out for you. That's good news for you, and your fish.


Just a side note on water changes. While what you say is true with regards to ammonia/chloramine, if one is using a quality water conditioner, at the correct dosage rate, in the vast majority of cases toxicity issues, even low dosage rate issues, should generally be a non issue. Water conditioners such as Seachem Prime & Seachem Safe work pretty much instantaneously, as do even the low cost conditioners such as watered down sodium thiosulfate, when treating for chlorine. They react on contact with oxidising agents, and reduce them to a safe form for fish, so unless ones fish is sitting directly at the end of the fill hose over the course of ones water change, there shouldn't be any exposure to chlorine/chloramine or ammonia, even at low limits. Thousands (millions?) of hobbyists fill their tanks using this method, and these products, and have for many years with no problems.

But none of us own a crystal ball and can state with any type of certainty as to exactly what's taken place in your tank over the past year, including your tap water - so drawing any type of concrete conclusion is pretty much impossible. For a starter, your tank contains a massive bio load, and wasn't cycled.

But of course every hobbyist should perform water changes in the manner that they feel most comfortable with. Best of luck with continued success with your tank.
 
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Glad to see your tank is stabilized.

I add water to my tanks right from the tap and have no issues infact most of my fish and all of my polys swim in the stream coming from the hose. They always look and act excited during wcs

But if your method works thats great dont change a thing.

Feed lightly until those filters mature
 
Congrats on the improvement!

I too add water straight from the tap but you should continue with your method because, as stated, we don't know all and every circumstance of what's going on with your tank.

RD's right in that the experts were giving you a consistent advice.

Also, one cannot listen to 5-10 advisers. Even more so one cannot listen to 5-10 (well meaning) advisers whose level of knowledge /authority is unknown to one. I'd pick 1-2 trustworthy individuals and use the rest of info as a supplementary reading and self-educating material.

Otherwise, this becomes indeed a self-propagating pain for you and those trying to help you. I do applaud you and RD for dedication, good will, and sticking with it.

It's just common sense. Just an example: this is not a democracy where the truth is defined by the number of votes and everyone's vote carries the same value... as if thinking "If 5-10 people say this, it must be correct or they are all correct in their own way." Not necessarily. They all can be way off. In an extreme instance, you might end up chasing advices of 5-10 unqualified newbies and disregard an opposing advice given by 1 expert. Needless to say experts can disagree too... So my long point is be careful who you listen to and how you listen.
 
You keep praising your water clarity which is nice but utterly immaterial in this case altogether.

On one hand, fish thrive in muddy, dirty, turbid lakes and rivers because the water's made pristine by instant dilution and bio-chemical elimination of toxic waste products as soon as they are produced by living organisms.

On the other hand, fish die (from my hands too) in beautiful tanks with sparkling water laced with poisons / toxins invisible to human eye.
 
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